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For the first time this fall, most Ontario parents wanting to drop off lunch or homework at their child’s elementary school after the bell has rung will have to be buzzed in. The new precaution is part of a province-wide bid to make schools less vulnerable to intruders after the Newtown tragedy.

Some 2,450 elementary schools applied for and got provincial funding this spring to install front-door buzzers and security cameras. Together with the 850 schools that installed them with provincial funding in 2005, the new equipment means some 80 per cent of Ontario’s 4,000 elementary schools will have locked front doors this fall.

In places like Peel and York Region, it marks a new era of locked doors.

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“There’s no question it will create a new paradigm for parents used to walking into their child’s school to drop off a lunch,” said Allan Hoyle, superintendent of schools for the York Region District School Board, where elementary school front doors have not had to be locked until now.

“A locked door itself will not prevent every tragedy, but anything we can do to ensure the safety of students is important.”

Former Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged $10 million for front-door security at schools last December as part of a Safe Welcome Program, after the tragic shooting of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. In the GTA, 1,287 schools received funding through their 12 school boards.

“I think it’s good for the most part; I was very worried after the Sandy Hook situation and it is pretty easy now for anyone to walk into my child’s school,” said Adina Zaiontz, whose daughter is in junior kindergarten in Richmond Hill. “However, I wonder if it gives us a false sense of security,” she said, noting the Sandy Hook intruder simply shot his way through a glass door. “If someone is intent on doing harm, they will find other ways to do it.”

York Region got $325,000 to install entry buzzers and security cameras in 106 of its 171 elementary schools, while the other 65 schools had received security money earlier.

“There was a lot of interest in locking the front doors after the Newtown tragedy,” said Hoyle, adding the board must decide whether doors will be open during lunchtime and recess.

In the Peel District School Board, which received $632,400 for its 204 elementary schools, families received a letter last week notifying them of the new locked-door policy.

“For all of us, it will be a change in routine, because there are a lot of visitors in and out during the school day,” said associate director Scott Moreash. “But I believe parents will see it as an added safety measure.”

The Halton Catholic District School Board already had a locked-door policy in its 42 elementary schools, but received $133,300 of the new funding to add even more security, said spokesperson Lisa Stocco.

“We have some schools with portables where students sometimes need to enter the school through a back door that’s locked, so we may install electronic passes on those doors where students can use a swipe card.”

In other boards across the Greater Toronto Area:

The Toronto District School Board already has security systems at front doors in 70 per cent of its 474 elementary schools, and expects to get about $465,000 more for the remaining 150 elementary schools.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board received $83,700 to install security systems at the last 27 elementary schools that needed it, and all 167 now will have locked front doors.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board received $251,100 to install cameras and a buzzer system at 81 elementary schools; earlier it had installed such systems at 38 elementary schools.

The York Catholic District School board received $272,000 to install front-door controls at its 88 elementary schools. The board also plans to try to add security systems at elementary schools that have portables on site, for doors that lead directly to the portables, said board spokesperson May Moore. Even before 2005, Moore said, the board had installed closed-circuit cameras in all schools and ensured that school designs always considered sight lines.

Durham District School Board received $254,200 to install cameras at 82 elementary schools where the office does not have clear sight-lines to the front door.

Durham Catholic District School Board received $127,100 for security measures at 41 of its elementary schools.

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